< Chapter 61 - Entering the Palace #3 >
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“Ugh··· Yudera······.”
Cordelia mumbled softly, exhaled sharply, and turned over once.
It must have been nine o’clock.
Cordelia, who went to bed earlier than usual due to being tired, woke up with a start.
Because I felt a presence.
‘Uder?’
Although very small, I could hear footsteps.
I couldn’t see right away because my back was to the door, but I felt someone approaching from behind me.
Slowly and steadily.
One after another, swoosh.
‘Slurp?’
It wasn’t just the sound of approaching the bed, it was the sound of a hand touching it.
‘what?’
Is this really Yuder?
And if it’s Yuder, why are you doing this?
Why are you sneaking into my room in the middle of the night?
Why are you coming to my bed while I’m sleeping?
‘and.’
Why am I just sitting still?
Why do you close your eyes and pretend to sleep instead of opening your eyes and asking what’s going on?
Even as I pondered for a moment, my heartbeat grew louder, the sounds of people grew closer, and the rustling sounds continued.
Small footsteps.
The sound of feet lifting off the floor.
The sound of someone slowly climbing onto the bed.
Who could it be?
Who is it?
Is it Yuder?
Is that right?
But why?
She could have just gotten up and asked, but Cordelia continued to pretend to sleep without realizing it, and eventually someone reached out to her on the bed. He seemed to gently place his hand on Cordelia’s shoulder, and then climbed up.
From Cordelia’s red-haired nape to her ear, then down along her jawline and onto her round cheek.
Those gentle hands, as if caressing.
Cordelia, whose body was gradually shrinking, swallowed dry saliva, and at that moment, the long, thin fingers touching her cheeks did something new. They grabbed Cordelia’s soft cheeks and pulled them together.
With a very familiar gesture.
“ah?”
Familiar?
At that moment, Cordelia opened her eyes wide and snatched the hand that was holding her cheek away, raising her body.
“Scarlett?!”
“Oh my, you’re awake?”
Scarlett, dressed in a maid’s outfit, smiled slyly, and Cordelia’s brow furrowed.
The cheeky expression itself was okay, but it wasn’t Scarlett’s face that I was expecting.
‘What am I saying?’
Cordelia shook her head to clear her mind, then grabbed Scarlett’s arm and asked again.
“Hey, what are you doing in someone else’s bedroom in the middle of the night? Huh?”
“What were you doing, pinching our princess’s cheek?”
“Our princess?”
As Cordelia sharpened her gaze, Scarlett smiled awkwardly and said.
“Oh, by any chance, is it a nickname that I have to use only Yuder?”
“You want to retire today?”
As Cordelia smiled brightly and gathered her magic power in her empty left hand, an eerie blue light appeared, and Scarlett quickly pulled her arm away and said.
“Okay, okay. Enough with the teasing. Let’s have a grown-up conversation. Blackcloak! Come in!”
“Uder?”
Cordelia blinked and turned toward the door. Sure enough, it wasn’t long before the door opened with a bang.
“Scarlett, didn’t you tell me to wake you quietly?”
“I woke you up gently. And very gently at that.”
When Scarlett shrugged and winked as if to say, Cordelia glared at her again and sat down on the bed.
“What is going on in the middle of the night?”
Scarlett smiled slightly at the slightly annoyed voice and sat down next to Cordelia to listen.
“It’s only nine o’clock. Isn’t it a bit early to say midnight? Of course, it’s time for good kids to snore.”
“Do you want to keep picking a fight?”
As Cordelia glared again, Scarlett bit her lip, and Uther let out a long sigh and approached the bed.
“Scarlett, stop talking nonsense and get to the point. Cordelia is awake and in a bad mood right now.”
He spoke as if he was being comforted, then handed the teacup he was holding to Cordelia.
It was the warm honey water that I usually enjoyed drinking.
“Oh, thank you.”
“No problem.”
Uther answered with a smile and sat down next to Cordelia before nodding at Scarlett again.
It was a signal to hurry up and talk.
“Tch, anyway, I said we’re a pickled couple. If we don’t pickle each other even for a little while, thorns will grow in our mouths, right?”
“Hey, you can hear everything? Oh, it’s delicious. It’s our family’s Yuda.”
“I’m glad you like it, Madam.”
“Yeah, yeah, praise our Yuder.”
Cordelia smiled brightly as Uther answered theatrically, and Scarlett frowned again at that sight.
Stop complaining and start pickling again. I’m dirty, so let’s get to the main point.
“Hey, pink bomb.”
“Why, Shangnya.”
Scarlett was momentarily dumbfounded by the natural swearing, but soon nodded.
To begin with, the Pink Bomb that Scarlett herself knew was a swearer.
“Well, that seems natural.”
“Stop playing around with words and get to the point. If you don’t have something to worry about that might wake someone up from a good night’s sleep, you’ll get in trouble. Got it?”
“Okay. I already told Black Cloak, I have some work to do.”
“Work? You want to steal?”
“No, not stealing. Do you think stealing is the only job a Log Master does?”
“Well, that’s true. Since it’s a log, there are a lot of things to do, like robbery, assault, and terrorism.”
Cordelia nodded as if she understood, but Scarlett frowned.
That’s true, but it made me feel bad.
“Hehe, this is what factual violence is. Do you understand?”
“I understand it’s violence. Anyway, I just want to do something together. In fact, I came yesterday as part of the investigation.”
As Scarlett spoke, slightly avoiding eye contact, Cordelia tilted her head, then looked back at Uther and asked with her eyes.
‘Why is he like this?’
Why are you avoiding eye contact when you said you’d do things together? Your face is red.
At Cordelia’s look of not knowing, Uther smiled bitterly and answered with his eyes.
‘We haven’t settled things yet. It must be embarrassing to ask you to work together. It’s also embarrassing.’
At Uther’s commentary, Cordelia let out a small ‘Ah’ and then turned to Scarlett with a mischievous smile.
It was because Scarlett, who had been the epitome of irritation just a moment ago, looked incredibly cute.
“Oh my, you’re so cute.”
Scarlett was surprised when Cordelia suddenly pinched her cheek, but she didn’t really fight back, perhaps because of what she had done so far or because she was in a position where she was being asked to do something.
‘Ah, this is the taste.’
A situation where a beautiful woman who looks proud is blushing and quietly getting her cheek pinched.
In addition, the chewy texture of the cheeks was very good.
Cordelia, whose face naturally relaxed, continued to peck Scarlett’s cheek, and Uther, who sighed at the conversation that was not making any progress, opened his mouth instead.
“Cordelia, Scarlett’s proposal is a dungeon exploration. To be exact, she wants us to go together to the stone dungeon book that lies dormant in the basement of the Red Rose Castle.”
“Dungeon Book?”
Cordelia reflexively asked, then took her hand off Scarlett’s cheek and asked again with her eyes.
‘Are you talking about the palace of mirrors?’
‘Oh, that’s right.’
‘I see, that’s why.’
Because the Palace of Mirrors was a dungeon that could not be entered alone.
It was an instant dungeon with a minimum number of participants.
‘That’s also the reason why Yuder and I didn’t go in.’
In the original, by the time they entered the Mirror Palace, not only the Spencer Dukedom but also the Kingdom of Cailun had already fallen, so the Red Rose Castle was in ruins as well, but that was not the case now.
Not only was the castle intact, but there were also a considerable number of people living there, so it was impossible to hide there with the military family.
‘No, it may be possible to infiltrate, but it would be difficult to secure a trustworthy military family.’
The only ones who could have asked to go with me right away were Gale or Adelia, but it was obvious that the moment I brought up the subject, I would get scolded for being crazy.
‘The prospects are just getting to know each other, so it’s difficult.’
If it was a dungeon in a secluded forest, it would be possible to somehow persuade him, but it was a different story in the basement of Duke Spencer’s house. The moment I told him to go with me, he would definitely show his reluctance.
‘The Palace of Mirrors was definitely a 4-person dungeon, wasn’t it?’
‘That’s right, that’s why we both gave up on the idea of going in.’
But somehow Scarlett appeared first with a bite of food.
Adding Uther to Cordelia herself, and then Scarlett, there were three of them, so she only needed to save one more person to enter the Palace of Mirrors.
Just one person.
Last one.
‘Are you thinking the same thing as me right now?’
‘Oh, right.’
A person whose skills and character are trustworthy.
Here’s a boy who needs to be given a chance to grow at least once.
‘It seems like it would be easy to seduce.’
Uther did not deny the look in Cordelia’s eyes, and the two soon began to smile sinisterly.
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“Lucas, this is Scarlett. Scarlett, this is Lucas.”
Inside Uther and Cordelia’s room.
Lucas was called out in the middle of the night, but he was still a well-bred boy. As soon as Cordelia finished introducing himself, he politely bowed to Scarlett.
“This is Lucas Hresvelg.”
“Scarlett···this is it.”
At first, Scarlett tried to answer casually, but in the end, she responded with the same courtesy.
Lucas’s gaze was too serious to just ignore.
‘As expected! I knew you’d be weak to this kind of thing!’
Because Scarlett loved biographies as much as Lucas did, especially Rogue Master’s biographies.
Cordelia, secretly delighted, quickly turned to look at Uther.
‘Yuder, Yuuder. Don’t you think you two look good together?’
Although her eyes sparkling with anticipation were very cute, Yuder couldn’t help but laugh in vain as if he was being taken aback.
‘Hey, you said you had to marry Red Wind sometime.’
‘But the Red Wind is in the wild land. It seems to go well with the Sun Song.’
So, let’s have Lucas and Scarlett meet.
Fans of the Heroes Chronicles will get along well with each other. Isn’t it a match made in heaven?
‘A combination of a noble family’s young master and a beautiful thief. And on top of that, they’re a couple with a big age gap. Hmm, I can picture it, come out.’
As Cordelia continued her delusions, Uther briefly stopped the eye contact and explained the situation to the two of them – to be exact, to Lucas.
“Oh, so… you’re saying that the dungeon book is hidden in the basement of the Red Rose Castle?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Miss Scarlett is Prince Uther and Miss Cordelia’s adventuring companion.”
“Yes, we went on an adventure together just before coming to the capital.”
When Uther answered with a smile, Cordelia nodded vigorously, and Scarlett showed her agreement with a somewhat reluctant expression.
“To summarize, you need four people to enter the Dungeon Book, so that’s why you came to me, right? To enter the Dungeon Book together.”
“Yes, to go on an adventure together.”
When Yuder emphasized a certain word, Lucas flinched for a moment, and Cordelia, who was alive with her wild instincts, did not miss that momentary gap.
“Lucas, doesn’t that sound like a lot of fun? Getting access to the hidden secrets of the Red Rose Castle. And with a mysterious and mysterious beauty at that.”
“Who? Me?”
Cordelia continued speaking, regardless of whether Scarlett questioned it for a moment or not.
“Besides, since it’s a dungeon book, there’s no harm to the Spencer Dukes. We won’t die either. You can literally just enjoy the adventure. The wonderful adventure.”
Cordelia kept emphasizing the adventure, and Lucas flinched every time.
This is because I have been focusing too much on swordsmanship training lately, and my longing for adventure, which I had forgotten for a while, has suddenly surged up.
“Prince Lucas, would you like to join us? This is an offer I am making because you are my rival, Prince Lucas. I cannot monopolize the opportunity to grow to the next level by myself.”
In fact, it was because there was a 4-person limit, so one person was absolutely necessary, but there was no need to reveal that.
The important thing was to tease Lucas.
“Prince Yude······.”
“Prince Lucas, let’s grow together.”
As if responding to the hazy gaze, Yuder held Lucas’ hand tightly and emphasized, and the effect was amazing.
Lucas nodded with a very excited expression on his face.
‘Wow, my family’s Yuderi is always a scammer no matter how many times I see him.’
How horrible it would have been if it had been someone else’s house.
Cordelia sighed in relief, and Scarlett, who was watching from the side, writhed her hands and feet as if she was going to die.
And a few seconds.
Lucas finally made up his mind and clenched his fists.
“I will help you with my limited skills. To grow together and become better together!”
“Wow.”
Uther and Cordelia clapped as if they had been waiting for it, and Scarlett, who had been stepped on by Cordelia, also joined in the applause, albeit reluctantly.
“Okay, so before we leave, let me talk about the specifics.”
Even the exact location of the dungeon book and the enemies you will face inside.
Scarlett, who was surprised by the knowledge that Uther was spouting off, kept winking at Cordelia as if wondering what was going on, but Cordelia only seemed excited and did not respond properly. Lucas was busy listening to Uther with a serious face.
“It won’t be easy. But the joy you’ll feel when you achieve it will be just as great.”
After speaking to everyone, Yuder stood up from his seat, and Lucas quickly followed him, his eyes shining.
“If it is as you said, then I think this is a trial that I really need right now. As expected from Prince Yu De. Thank you very much.”
“Because it’s for the sake of the family.”
“Prince Yude······.”
“Prince Lucas.”
As Uther and Lucas began to share a deep gaze, Scarlett’s eyes turned cold, and Cordelia burst out laughing and grabbed Uther’s sleeve.
“Anyway, let’s go then.”
Cordelia was also very interested in the special enemy she would face in the Palace of Mirrors.
“Yes, Princess. Please come this way.”
Uther opened the window as naturally as he could, and Cordelia, dressed in her usual travel attire, quickly climbed out the window and went outside.
“You go first.”
“Uh… yes.”
And then there’s serious Lucas and awkward Scarlett.
The four young men and women walked cautiously and secretly, as if they were running away in the middle of the night.
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< Chapter 61 - Entering the Palace #3 > End
